The Demon and the Witch
by Wave-Existence
Summary: Jennifer had lived an unlucky life, things always went wrong around her. When one day she finds a book on magic, she thinks her luck might finally be turning. But magic always has a price, what will she be willing to pay? Rachel just wants to be free from her oppressive and abusive environment. When a real demon enters her life, will it be the end?
1. Prologue - The Summoning

**A/N: Ok, so welcome to my story, this is an AU fic and I don't own the Teen Titans characters. Honestly not 100% happy with this, but I never seem to be with anything I write, so I'm posting anyway. Any thoughts/comments/questions/whatever feel free to leave in a review or PM.  
**

* * *

**Prologue - The Summoning**

Jennifer - or Jinx, as she bitterly called herself sometimes - had never had anything in her life go well. It was like she was a magnet for misfortune. When she was just a baby, she and her birth parents had been involved in a car accident, a six car pile-up on a highway. Miraculously, no one was injured - except for her parents, who both died at the scene from internal hemorrhaging. She'd been too young to blame herself then, barely even old enough to remember. But later in life, when she knew it was because of her, she would have nightmares about it.

After that, she'd been put into foster care, as no relatives had come forward to claim her. As far as Jennifer knew, she didn't have any and it was probably better off that way. Once she was in system, she was constantly followed by accidents and disasters, either to adoptive parents or to the large foster buildings she stayed in. Electrical things would short circuit and start a fire, burning a house down. Part of a roof beam would rot through and collapse just as someone was walking under it. Stairs would collapse and trees fall down, all for no reason. No, the reasons were obvious, natural causes and reactions, and yet the frequency with which they happened only around Jennifer...You couldn't call that a coincidence. She was cursed.

Eventually it became obvious to everyone in the care system, and she stopped getting adopted. People would see her and ask, only to be moved along, "suggesting" they adopt such-and-such instead, that they would be more suitable for their environment. It wore on her, ground her down. It also made her angry.

_It's not like I asked for this!_ Jennifer would scream internally. She knew it wasn't the adults fault, but she couldn't help but resent them. She was just a kid, but no one wanted trouble, and trouble was what she was.

Eventually Jennifer had had enough and she decided to run away. Why should she stay if no one wanted her? She could hear them all talking behind her back, about how she was cursed, bad luck walking. So she packed up her few meager possessions one night and just walked away. It shouldn't have been that easy of course, especially for a 10 year old, but as usual things weren't working properly around her and none of the locks or cameras worked, and really, would they have wanted to stop her anyway? Probably not.

Jennifer's life had improved a lot after she struck out on her own. There was no one to yell at her when things broke down or someone got hurt. She didn't grow attached to those same people, only to have them leave her somewhere again, or worse, get seriously injured. She'd left Steel City a year after she'd started living on the streets and traveled around the world, stowing away on boats - she never, _ever_ used airplanes - or working for her passage where she could. Never for long journeys, her luck wouldn't hold for that long, but those times at sea had been precious to her, times of peace and tranquility.

After a few years she'd found herself in Jump City and settled down into a new life. During her time on the streets, she'd taken an interest in the more lawless side of life and always found someone in the cities she stayed in to mentor her a little in the arts of stealing. It was a great way to earn money for yourself, if you were good at it, didn't get caught or get too greedy - and Jennifer liked to think she was accomplished for her years.

So when she'd gotten to Jump, she kept up her lifestyle and inserted herself into the thieving part of the city, scoping out various areas and learning which ones not to steal from, either because of high police activity or quick responses, or because it was somebody else's turf and she didn't want trouble. Eventually she'd even made friends around her own age, or as much as Jennifer was ever able to make friends with the things that happened around her. Still they'd seemed to take it in stride whenever something odd happened, and they made life bearable.

Gizmo - god save you if you ever used his real name - was more of an electronic thief than the more traditional kind, like Jennifer was, so he spent most of his time cooped up in a small, cheap apartment with his "girls"; walls of computers, monitors and various equipment that made as much sense to Jennifer as music to the tone deaf. Still, he could do some amazing things with all of it and he'd saved her a lot of trouble before on jobs. It was nice having someone take care of cameras and alarm systems for once.

Mammoth, otherwise known as Baran Flinders, was...well, muscle was the only way to describe it. He was as tall as most fully grown men and fairly bulged with muscles. He was handy for a heavy heist, or if she needed a spotter and he was surprisingly light on his feet. And of course, on the very odd occasions she ran into trouble with the owner or a police patrol, he was invaluable. He lived in another apartment in the same building as Gizmo - they told her they'd been together for a long time - and whenever Jennifer saw him he was either working out on a rather extensive personal training set, or smashing down food like it was going out of style. He also wasn't too much of a talker, but Gizmo more than made up for that.

So life had been looking up for Jennifer since she moved to Jump City. She was comfortable there. She even went to school! She'd missed out on most of the early school life, going back and forth between homes, but she'd managed to convince Gizmo to falsify some records for her and had managed to get into a high school in the area, saying her parents constantly traveled for work. A phone call from Baran and they seemed to have bought it, so she'd even started having a 'normal school life'. She avoided making any constant friends, but she always put on a happy face and got along with everyone. Well, most everyone.

Still, she couldn't avoid the bad luck that constantly followed her, though the incidents had lowered in severity. Anytime one happened that clearly because of her, it always brought back those memories and feelings, especially if someone was hurt or it was a close call. That's why, when one day she was in a second hand bookstore and found a book on magic, Jennifer thought her life was improving. Jennifer hadn't thought that straight away, of course. She didn't believe the book was actually magic, at least at first. But when she'd gotten to her home - an abandoned warehouse of some kind she'd claimed and renovated - Jennifer had decided to try one or two of them out, just for giggles. That's when she discovered that magic was real, and that maybe it was the answer. She could never have guessed what it would bring into her life.

* * *

It had been about five weeks since she'd picked up the nameless book on magic. _Book? Maybe I should start calling it a grimoire. That's more magic-y, right?_ she mused as she was setting up a ritual altar in an empty corner of her warehouse. She hoped she was doing it right. She opened up the book - "Grimoire!" she shouted to herself - with it's cracked leather cover and quickly turned to where she'd inserted some slips of paper with notes written down.

Jennifer hadn't managed to get far through the book yet - just a couple of spells for light, or fire and one for invisibility, great stuff for a thief - and the reason she'd made notes was that after a certain point the language in the book changed, into something she'd never seen before. Luckily someone, a previous owner, had written down partial translations and notes of their own in a language she _did_ recognize, even if she couldn't actually _read_ Latin. Still, Jennifer had managed to work her way through a rough translation, like she had with the words and phrases she couldn't understand at the start of the book, however it felt incomplete. Probably didn't help that sections of the back seemed burnt and covered in something that blocked out large sections of text. "Ink, probably," Jennifer muttered to herself as she spread her notes out over the pages. She hoped the stuff she'd improvised worked.

"Ok," she said to herself as she looked over her instructions, "coloured candles, check."

She used a compass and placed a black candle on the norther end of the large table, a red candle at the southern end, a yellow one to the east and a blue one to the west, but didn't light them yet. Putting a small white candle in the center, she turned back to her notes.

"Abramelin Oil, check. Chain, check. Cup, check. Athame, check. Rabbit, check."

She placed each item on the table in front of her as she listed them, except the rabbit, which was knocked out in a cage at her feet. The vial of oil she placed with the athame to her left, next to the red candle. The cup directly in front of her and before the white candle and the chain to her right, next to the yellow candle.

"Golden coin, courtesy of some rich dude, check. Incense, check. And pretty shinies, check!"

Again, she placed the items on the table as she 'ticked' them off, the coin next to the black candle and the small sapphire and amethyst next to the blue candle. The incense went into the center with the white candle.

Jennifer breathed out deeply and looked over the altar she'd set up, noting everything was in place, then she checked the time with an antique pocket watch she'd taken a liking to lately. _Just before midnight, perfect,_ she thought. It was time to start. Her aim? Summon something that could give her answers or reverse this luck she was born with. Taking a deep breath, she put her pocket watch away and started chanting.

_"Hecate, deity of magic, by the light of the Dark Moon we beseech thee,"_

Jennifer repeated this three times as she lit the yellow candle, representing the element air. The use of 'we' and the repeated chant were because the book implied that this particular task be undertaken by a trio, but since Jennifer didn't know anyone remotely connected to the world of magic, she was stuck doing it by herself.

_"Klêidouchos, holder of the keys, we offer this gift in exchange," s_he lit the blue candle, element of water, and passed the gem stones she'd placed there over the flame as she repeated this line.

_"Propylaia, She before the Gates, accept the Keys and turn thine eyes and thoughts away,"_ she lit the red candle, of fire, as she chanted and picked up the chain, shaking it thrice before putting it back down.

_"Chthonia, of the Earth, take this coin and accept this sacrifice and let the Paths Between open for this moment,"_ the black candle was lit and a faint breeze stirred in the room, though the flames didn't flicker, flaring up unnaturally high and straight.

Jennifer hated to do it, but she reached down and unlatched the cage by her feet, reaching and grabbing the small animal inside before rising and placing it on the table. Grabbing the athame and the oil, she popped the top off and poured it over the blade, silently infusing it with her will and desire. Putting the vial down, she picked up the rabbit with her now free hand, held it over the cup and, closing her eyes - quickly pressed the blade against it's small throat, letting it's life blood drip into the cup below it.

After a minute she put the dead animal down and held a hand over the now full cup and pricked a finger with the athame, letting a drop of her own blood fall into it.

_"With the passing of the spirit through the layers of the world, heed our call,"_ she quickly put down the athame and lit the white central candle, to represent the spirit and Aether. The blood gathered in the cup slowly formed a dark red sphere and floated up, until it was eye level. She lit the incense and finished with her chant,

_"The four elements call and the Spirit reigns over all, Hecate of the Crossroads, shepard us aid in our time of need."_

The breeze that had stirred earlier picked up in intensity, blowing smoke from the incense over the orb of blood, then throughout the room, far more smoke than should be able to come from such a small thing. It hazed her vision, until all she could see were the five pillars of fire, larger than life and the dull red gleam hanging in midair. Suddenly it elongated and swirled around the table, passing through the flames and giving off a sweet scent, before undulating it's way upwards, passing through the roof like it wasn't there.

Gradually the smoke cleared from the room and the candle flames burnt down until they were normal. No sign of blood, even what hadn't gotten in the cup. The coin and gems were gone. She waited for something to happen, but just like that, it seemed like a normal night again. _I guess it didn't work, _Jennifer thought with a sigh, bending down to blow out the candles of her ritual and to start cleaning up. _What a waste of perfectly good sellable gemstones._ It was a mostly improvised ritual in the first place, so she hadn't exactly expected it to work...but she was still disappointed.

"**Oh my, how wonderfully inviting of you!**" a deep voice suddenly exclaimed behind her, echoing upon itself and causing Jennifer to nearly jump out of her skin. She whirled around, finding nothing behind her and whipping her head around, trying to find the source of the voice. It hadn't sounded human. Unless human voices suddenly started sounding like they spoke the same thing in multiple tones, slightly out of synch. So her summoning _had_ worked?

"**No circles of protection? No symbols of binding?**" she still couldn't see it, but somehow she knew the owner of the voice was shaking it's head at her. Jennifer felt something sharp slide down her back, sending an unnatural cold straight to her core as the voice continued, "**Not a charm or amulet on your person. What **_**were**_** you thinking, girl. And these offerings...paltry, only fit for the dregs, they are.**"

Jennifer turned around slowly and finally saw the figure, bending over her offering altar. Or rather, she saw a tall, black silhouette bent double and examining said 'offerings' with quadruple eyes of red. She couldn't discern any details apart from those burning eyes and a tall, slim figure made of darkness. Perhaps there were no details to see? It was the first time Jennifer had ever encountered a being from a different realm before, so she couldn't know if it was actually made from shadow or if it was some illusion. She shivered as those eyes looked up and into her own, dread spreading throughout her body and paralyzing her where she stood.

"**Hmm, still, I should be more grateful, don't you think?**" it directed at her in a disturbingly friendly fashion."**Though the means are crude - insulting, actually - you **_**did**_** manage to bring me into the mortal realms. By yourself, no less! Truly, that in itself is quite the feat. It's been so long since I've been to this realm that I feared all people of Power had long perished!**"

It fell silent after that, staring at her, two eyes on one side rising slightly higher than the other. Was it raising an eyebrow at her? Waiting for a response? But Jennifer was still too scared to reply. She didn't really know why, it wasn't threatening her or anything, but those undertones to it's words...and the aura it gave off, it made the air heavy, hard to breathe. It chilled her to the bones. Jennifer didn't know what she'd expected to summon tonight - to be honest, she had thought it would fail, like it initially seemed to - but it hadn't been something so...dark. What had she gotten herself into?

"**What, no begging for my favor, demands for rewards? I thought you humans were all for that kind of thing,**" it said, suddenly towering in front her, having grown bored of waiting. A long, thin arm appeared from the mass of darkness in front of her, five pointed talons reaching out and cupping her chin, the eyes narrowing in concentration as Jennifer felt something slithering in her mind. "**Ah,**" it said, in sudden understanding, "**I knew you were a novice, but really, this is just too amusing. You don't know anything, not the basic of basics, and somehow you summon a demon. Not just any demon, but myself! I am truly humbled at how **_**Jinxed**_** your life is,**" it continued with a laugh and bowed to her mockingly, the use of her self-imposed nickname causing her to flinch unconsciously, the talons leaving thin trails of blood along her face.

Jennifer didn't even notice the pain though. One word kept resounding in her mind; _Demon_. She'd summoned a demon? Surely it was a joke, the universe pulling a huge prank on her. Her luck couldn't be _**that**_ bad. But she knew it was.

_Damn it! My life was supposed to be turning around!_ she screamed inside her head. She didn't know any facts about demons, but every religion or mythology she'd heard of said they were bad news. Despair washed over Jennifer and tears streamed down her face as she prepared to die a horrible death.

The demon opened up a mouth full of white fangs, lit from within by an infernal glow and leaned toward her, inhaling deeply. It tasted her despair, that nothing in her life would ever go right, that she'd die a failure. Her anger, at herself for screwing up, at the universe for an empty, unfair life. Her fear of the creature in front of her and the death she thought it represented, mixed with a tired relief that it would all be over. The demon tasted all this and more and made a satisfied sound, "**Ah, ambrosia. Yes, nothing can compare to the mortal world. You all pack so much emotion into your short, short lives. It's...heady.**" It's eyes closed as it inhaled again, then they snapped open and speared into Jennifer's soul as it grinned, all fang, and said, "**Of course, your flesh is quite succulent as well.**"

Her fear spiked then, her heart nearly hammering it's way out of her chest as adrenaline surged through her body, as her fighting instincts kicked in. _I need to get out of here!_ Jennifer thought, escape finally coming to her mind, but too late. Though she was free from the paralysis of earlier, there was no way she could escape from something like this. But she tried anyway.

Turning, she sprinted for the door that lead outside, her night vision and familiarity allowing her to move in the nearly lightless space. Panting, still somehow in one piece, she fetched up against the wall next to the door and yanked it open, the cold light of the moon and the crisp winter wind flooding into the room. She took a look back as she ran through to the door, anxious to know where the demon was, only to find it exactly where it was standing when she first started moving, staring after her. Jennifer didn't question it, she just thanked whatever gods were listening and ran into the city. She had some acquaintances she could stay with until she figured this out.

As she ran into the cold night however, a voice slipped into her mind, the voice of the demon. _**As thanks for your hard efforts, my gift to you is your life.**_ Of course, she hadn't gotten away, she'd been let go._** Train your Power and perhaps, when we meet again, we can have some fun,**_ the voice continued with a laugh, _**otherwise I fear that bad luck of yours will take a sudden turn for the worse. **_Like it hadn't already, Jennifer thought as she continued running mindlessly, the words in her mind swimming like black snakes in her vision. _**The mortal world has changed a lot since I was last here; I can tell it's going to be fun. Here's my name, as an extra service; Scath. Remember it. **_

The demons name resounded with power in her mind, burned with a fiery glow and branded itself into her memory. Her nerves felt like they were on fire, and as Jennifer crashed to the ground, her final thoughts before oblivion took her were that she wished she'd never set eyes on that book.

* * *

The demon Scath stood in the middle of an empty alley and looked down at the passed out form of the pink haired witch. Usually such physical details passed right by it, though that wasn't to say it didn't pay attention when it had to. But it's other senses were far more potent and provided much more detail than mere physical sight; the flow of energy in the air, currents of magic in the earth, a persons aura, the signals the brain sent throughout the body. All this and more were available to it's eyes, rendering physical sight all but useless. However, the pink of this witch's hair pervaded all layers of Scath's vision, almost like an actual manifestation of her innate power, it glowed around her head like a halo.

Scath sighed it's disappointment silently to the world. _**It would have been nice if I'd been able to use you girl**_, it thought to her. It had gleaned much while it had been in her mind, about the world as it was now, but mostly about her, and she intrigued it. It actually couldn't believe that backwater ritual she'd come up with had worked. In all it's long life it had never seen someone quite like her.

Unfortunately, it had also seen in her mind that - though her power was sufficient to host and be of use to it - she simply wasn't compatible. Scath could have forced itself in and taken over, of course, but it would have left her a mindless husk. It had plans for its time in this world - which would be _very_ long - and it thought she might be useful later on. At the least, she would serve as a backup if it couldn't find a more useful tether, or if something went wrong.

Satisfied it hadn't damaged a useful tool, Scath turned it's attention outwards in search of a host. In a perfect existence, it wouldn't need one and could simply exist and exert it's power over this plane in it's true form. Unfortunately, the natural order of things placed limits on what it could do outside of a _proper_ summoning, or without a host or tether of some kind native to that realm. It also constrained its natural form, a sensation it was glad it had nearly forgotten. Stretching out its shadows as much as possible, turning the alley pitch black, Scath tried to alleviate the feeling of it's mind being squeezed through a pinhole and into a smaller vessel, while it spread it's senses through the city it found itself in, looking for a compatible host.

Flying over the city like a bird of prey, its talons dragging through various minds in search of something, it finally felt something in the southern section of the city. Scath felt a great power, but when it had touched the mind, it also felt pain, fear, anger, hopelessness and hatred. Mixed with other emotions, it was a tangled skein, but one that drew Scath like a lodestone once it found it. Here...here was someone it could use.

Forming its shadowy mass into the shape its senses had taken, Scath took the skies, arrowing in on that mind. It had no concerns about losing track of the witch behind it. Scath's name, freely given, had marked her and she was also his original summoner, albeit accidentally. She was tied to him tightly, though she didn't it. It laughed to itself as it winged away, the sound igniting nightmares in the people throughout the area, all except the pink haired witch, who was in a place too deep for dreams.

* * *

**A/N: The magic ritual was kind of hard to do and there's a lot of symbolism and behind the scenes connections between the various names/objects, although in saying that Jinx also didn't do it completely right, so there was a lot of stuff left out. I'm using a bunch of sources and kind of jamming everything together. Basically all the names she used are various different names for Hecate. I originally thought of using the Selene/Artemis/Hecate trio but decided it would make more sense if it was _just_ Hecate, assuming you know or look up much about them. Interestingly, I saw this on a Wiki page after I'd already written this out: "One interesting passage exists suggesting that the word "jinx" might have originated in a cult object associated with Hecate." But since it _is_ a wiki page, who knows.  
**

**Tune in next time for some Raven.**


	2. Chapter 1 - Encounter

**A/N: Why does all my writing seem to take place between midnight and sunrise? This is not good for my sleep pattern. Bah, who needs sleep? Anywho, thank you all to the reviewers and I hope you enjoy your new chapter.  
**

**The M rating should probably be heeded from here on out, also the whole 'abusive environment' starts to rear it's ugly head here, so some people might be uncomfortable with that.**

**This particular chapter seemed to take forever to write, so much so that I swear it should be twice as long. But I had a lot of trouble with the first section for some reason, I knew what I wanted to put there, mostly, but I had trouble with the order of things. Hopefully it turned out alright.**

* * *

**Chapter 1 - Encounter  
**

The night was cold and quiet as Rachel shrugged deeper into her hoodie, the hood pulled forward and obscuring her face as the silver moonlight guided her steps down concrete paths. The hour was late and the streets weren't really any place for a teenage girl to be wandering all alone, but Rachel had no inclination to return to her home just yet. _The streets are probably safer for me anyway,_ she mused to herself as her feet took her where they would. It was a decent sort of neighborhood, so there was no one about, which suited Rachel perfectly, but if a suspicious individual did spot her, they'd probably mistake her for one of their own and leave her be.

Earlier that night, Rachel had escaped the hell that was her home when her Father had started drinking early in the evening. She knew to stay out of His way when He was in His cups - not that it worked a lot of the time - but when He started so early, things never ended well, no matter what she did. So, as soon as she'd been able, Rachel had used the excuse of homework to go to her room, unlock her window and with the help of her old friend The Dead Tree, escaped into the night. Things would probably be worse for her when she got back, or the next morning, but she just couldn't handle it tonight, she'd had to get away.

She lived in an older, two-story house in the South Residential District, in a slightly run-down neighborhood, with her room on the second floor. The area was nothing too bad, but it wasn't as well kept as some of the other areas around, and mostly lower income families or suspicious types found their way there. She remembered vaguely that it hadn't always been that way, but that was many years ago, when she was still a young girl and the area was less built up then it was now. Once, the house she lived in had been better kept than it was now too; with a small, immaculately maintained front and back garden. Paint that looked newly applied. Lush carpet and shining floorboards and the sound of a child's laughter. That far away time seemed like a dream to Rachel, like a fantasy world that didn't exist. Her mother had been a vibrant woman back then as well, friendly with strangers and always ready with a smile and a kind word, quick to comfort Rachel whenever she had a bad dream or hurt herself playing.

_Had things really been that way? _she thought to herself wistfully. You wouldn't think so, looking at her house now. The once perfect gardens were a shadow of what they once were, mostly dead except for weeds or the extra resilient plant. Time, neglect and the elements had made the paint on the outside wash out and chip away, while the wallpaper inside the house peeled and the carpets turned threadbare, it and the floorboards gaining marks and stains. Her mother, a wraith of what she once was. _The perfect reflection of my life,_ Rachel observed. She'd hated her mother for a long time once her Father started the beatings, hated her for not standing up to Him, for not protecting her daughter like she always had until then. Sometimes she still did hate her, even if it wasn't fair, but mostly she didn't feel anything for her anymore. It was easier that way.

The now dead tree outside her window had also been alive back then, but slowly deteriorated over the years until it, too, died, like all her other happy memories - if she were honest with herself, that was the part that saddened her the most. Once her Father had started getting violent, that tree had been her only friend, companion, accomplice. It had helped her numerous times to escape the fists and feet swung in anger, the objects thrown in rage. It's limbs were a hand held out in comfort and support, when those around her couldn't or wouldn't do anything. But eventually it had started to sicken and die, turning to ashes like everything else, until just a skeleton was left. Rachel had cried, but deep down she'd come to accept that nothing good could stay in her life.

Shaking herself from her dark thoughts, Rachel noticed that her feet had brought her to her 'secret place'. It wasn't _really_ a secret, it was just a small park hidden amongst a maze of houses, but she'd very rarely encountered anyone else there, so she'd silently claimed it as her own. It had three paths that led to it, winding their way between a bunch of homes, and contained a couple of swings and a slide, with a waist high hedge running around the outside. When she'd first found it many years ago, the day after her tree died, she'd even given it a name, _Nevermore,_ a promise to herself never to cry again. She approached the swings in the center of the park and sat on one, hands holding the chains as she tilted her head back and gazed up at the night sky.

She wished the cafe a few blocks from home, where she'd spent most of the night, was 24 hours. They had a couple of computers with internet access that you could pay for, but for Rachel the best thing was the atmosphere, the tea and the books. It was dark and quiet at the times she usually went there, when other like minded people went there to be alone with their thoughts or the words of a good author. When Rachel had originally started going there, the staff had asked her questions, like 'why was such a young girl there by herself so late at night?' and 'was she lost?'. But these days they were used to her and left her in peace as she drank her tea and immersed herself in whatever book she'd brought or found there that was worth reading, until they kicked everyone out in the early hours of the morning. Sighing at the thought of such tranquility, Rachel focused back on her surroundings and acknowledged that nights outside like this weren't too bad either. She let her mind drift out into the sea of stars as she breathed in the quiet night air, not noticing the shadows in the sky above her.

* * *

Scath had found the source of the power it had sensed fairly quickly; it was almost like a shining beacon in the night to its senses, and it had homed in on it like a ship lost at sea. In the form of a large black bird, it had followed the girl from high in the sky as she walked the empty streets, skimming her surface thoughts as it went, getting a taste of her. There was a flavor to her power that Scath hadn't felt in a long time, so long that it couldn't place what it was, though the answer felt just out of reach. _**Well, I'll find out for sure soon,**_ it thought to itself with barely restrained excitement. But there was no rush, the night was young yet and it wanted to savor it's initial meeting with this young girl. Though her thoughts were clear up close, her emotions were curiously less so, as if they were viewed through an opaque wall; still there, but distanced from their owner.

She arrived at what seemed to be her destination, a small park surrounded by houses and void of people, sitting down and letting her mind go blank. _**Perfect**_, Scath thought as it hovered over her. It couldn't just dive down into her soul and take her over, not if it wanted to make full use of her and it's own abilities. No, it needed to get her consent to a possession first, to share body and mind, something that most sane people balked at - at first. But Scath had many years of experience convincing people to let it in, offering them their hearts desires with silky words and a glib tongue. To do that, it was necessary to understand its target, which is why her current blank state was perfect.

Reaching a tendril of power down, no more than a thread, Scath snaked it's way inside her head and hung there like a spider, taking stock of the emptiness around it. _**Most curious,**_ it thought, careful not to make a disturbance. Most people, when they stopped thinking, didn't _actually_ stop thinking, it just became background noise to them, or they pushed everything into their subconscious. Not so this girl. There was literally nothing around Scath inside her head - it was like the still surface of an ocean, reflecting the sky back at itself, shores desolate of life. _**I wonder what would happen if I...**_

The mind-scape shifted around Scath as it nudged a thought from its mind into hers, a false memory of a pleasant family dinner - a family of three much like her own, a father, mother and daughter - that resonated with a real memory of her own. Below Scath the memory rose from that still ocean, walls, floor and furniture rising from the depths, though strangely faded out.

/o\

_"How was school today, Rachel?" her mother, Arella, asked with a smile as she sat at the kitchen table, delicately eating her meal. Her father, already finished and reading a paper, perked his ears up._

_A very young Rachel, sitting in an elevated chair and trying to emulate her mother, answered with a big grin, "Fun! I played lots!". She speared a potato and tried to eat it whole. Her mother laughed at her and her father smiled, before going back to his reading._

\o/

The memory ended there, suddenly, like it was cut off and Scath laughed to itself silently as the memory dissolved into mist. _**Oh, this could be fun,**_ it thought. It was curious how she'd avoided the name of her father even in such an old, disused memory, as evidenced by the way it had been faded. Either a memory hidden away or not much revisited. Scath was willing to bet on the former from what it's earlier observations had revealed. _**Time to go fishing,**_ it thought to itself gleefully, as it prepared another memory like bait. Not having to waste time digging through the detritus of a human life for what it needed was a novel experience. _**Now, what are you longing for Rachel...**_ It cast forth another memory, this one more vague, akin to a desire. It was the feeling of being held, the desire for comfort. Another scene rose from the still waters.

/o\

_It was a year after that last memory, and Rachel huddled in her bed, tears streaming down her face and trying to stifle her whimpers, body in pain but more emotionally hurt. Her father had been drinking heavily lately, and Rachel had heard her mother crying sometimes in the night, but she hadn't known why and was too afraid to ask, hoping it would go away. _

_That night though, Rachel had been sitting on the couch, watching TV with one of her mother's teas in a cup, trying to drink it. She'd been there alone, Arella in the kitchen doing the dishes, when her father entered and just stood there, looking at her. She'd looked up and smiled, but he'd just had a blank look on his face and his eyes were glassy, muttering to himself._

_He'd scared her, being like that. Something had just felt wrong to her, something Rachel didn't understand. She'd frozen and the cup she'd been holding had fallen to the floor, tea spilling out and soaking into the carpet. Her father's face had changed then, blank look fading away, to be replaced by anger - anger directed at her. She'd started crying and trying to clean it up, but he'd stalked towards her and she'd stopped still again, something washing over her that left her trembling all over._

_Within a couple of steps he'd reached her side and suddenly a hand was flying at her face, and with a sharp '__**crack**__' it connected and threw her to the floor. The sound and her scream had brought her mother running, and she gasped as she came into the room and saw the scene, then ran over and picked Rachel up, yelling at her father. She was in too much pain and shock to pay attention though, as her mother carried her up the stairs and to her room, where she'd left her on her bed and went back to confront her father. More shouting and loud noises followed, but Rachel tried to block it out. Eventually her mother had come back and tried to hold her, but she'd flinched away involuntarily. She'd then been pulled into a hug, and mother and daughter cried in each others arms._

\o/

It was a fuller, longer memory than the previous one, but dull and washed out. It didn't seem like this particular desire would help it, though Scath was only dealing with past memories here. Perhaps in her current thoughts, she desired a companion, a lover, a white knight. But it seemed unlikely. He could feel that she didn't have faith in people anymore, smart girl. _**Hmm, that feeling though, could she be...? **_Scath was beyond excited. It might have found a real gem here. It had to keep digging. _**Next up would be...Hmm, money seems like a long shot for her, let's skip that. How about power, strength. Revenge?**_

/o\

_It was years later and Rachel's home life had gotten worse and worse. Her Father didn't stop after one hit anymore, He flew into a rage more often and her mother grew more passive as the years went by. She was about halfway through her Primary School years then and had gotten quieter and more withdrawn, taking to wearing long sleeves and pants at every occasion or season. It was around then that she'd started wearing clothes with hoods, if she could get away with it._

_That particular day she'd come home from school late - the school she went to wasn't too far from where she lived, so she was allowed to walk there and back by herself. She'd gotten caught up in talking with her English teacher about a book, just about the only time she ever got enthusiastic anymore, and time had gotten away from her. She'd rushed out in a panic, barely hearing his promise to bring her something she might enjoy reading, anxious to get home without being noticed._

_Her wish was in vain, however. She'd decided to try the back door, since it was less obvious, but as soon she'd opened it, He'd been there, that look in His eyes. "You're late Rachel," He said, "why is that?"_

_She didn't want to answer. It wouldn't change anything, and there was the chance it would just make it worse, so she remained silent, hands clenching on her school bag as He waited there for an answer. When nothing was forthcoming, He dragged her inside, closed the door and rounded on her, fist meeting flesh. Her school bag dropped to the ground as she fell and something snapped within her. Over the years, she'd built up emotional barriers, not only to stop herself feeling anything from within, but because more and more she felt like outside emotions were flowing into her. When her Father got violent, it seemed like she felt the anger. Her mother's fear was a constant background noise. Other kid's disdain and discomfort around the 'weird girl', the teacher's pity._

_It was those barriers that snapped, and suddenly all the anger in her Father, all the anger and fear in herself, all the emotions she'd bottled up or felt from others, came rushing to the surface and she felt like she was drowning. Acting instinctively, trying to save herself from within and protect herself without, she thrust all those feelings out and they exploded from her in a silent, invisible wave, nothing physical but still knocking her Father back, face pale and hands raised in defense at something unseen._

_Seeing Him like that, it was the first time in a long time that Rachel had felt strong. A deep part of her even enjoyed seeing Him like that. But it couldn't last. There was too much going on inside her head, so she put those barriers back up and her Father stood up with them. Rachel didn't go to school the next day._

\o/

_**Ah,**_ Scath thought, exultant, _**I was right, a natural empath! It's been so long...**_ It didn't seem like Rachel knew what she was though. It seemed like that particular incident had either been blocked out or passed over, a freak accident. Her change in address of her father piqued its interest too, but wasn't entirely relevant right now. She'd gotten so used to putting up crude barriers to keep everything out that it was natural to her now, she didn't even question it. _**A powerful latent talent for the Art, as well as an empath, **_Scath mused. Untrained, it was surprising she hadn't gone mad by now. Still, it should make her easy to manipulate, and the things it could do with her ability..._**So! Power and revenge seem like they might be good bets, but let's try one more and see how we go. What do you think of...freedom.**_The surface rippled once more.

/o\

_Her Father was away for a week, some kind of business meeting. A whole week! Rachel could barely contain her excitement. When was the last time this had happened? Nothing came to mind. It was mid-year holidays during her first year of High School, so she didn't even have school work that needed doing! During that first day, she'd done nothing but walk around the house and enjoy not worrying about every little thing. She'd watched TV for a while in the afternoon, because she could. Spent a few hours reading, because her Father couldn't yell at her and hit her. Normally, holidays were the worst, as she would be stuck inside with Him for weeks at a time, without the interruption of school. But this was pure bliss. Even her mother was looking brighter than usual, even happy for once._

_It was the fourth day now, and Rachel decided to head out that day and wander the town. Maybe she'd try and hang out with people from school, if she ran into any. She was just in that good of a mood. Trailing her hand along the dead tree out back as she decided to use the rear door, she almost skipped down the street. She felt so light for some reason. She reached the center of town in what seemed like no time, seeming to fly down streets and paths. Now that she was here, Rachel was unsure what to do. The world was so open for once, the choices daunting. Deciding to start with something that was familiar, she headed to the giant shopping center in the middle of Jump to visit one of the bookshops there and see if she could pick anything up._

_As she was browsing the shelves and failing to find anything, she heard her name being called from outside the shop. Thinking that it was just someone with the same name as her being called, she continued with her fruitless search until a hand landed on her shoulder, making her jump._

_"Rachel, that is you, is it not?" a rather sweet, innocent voice asked. "I almost did not recognize you without a hood!"_

_After getting over her momentary shock, Rachel turned around and came face-to-face with the owner of the familiar voice, one of her class-mates, a rather outgoing, red-headed girl called Kory Anders. They'd spoken once or twice during school, but hadn't really hung out._

_"Um, sorry," Rachel stammered, "I didn't think you were calling for me." But wasn't this what she'd been hoping for? To maybe make a friend without the threat of her Father hanging over her head? Or at least to have fun with someone else. It had been so long..._

_"Why would I not be calling for you?" Kory asked, looking confused. **Was this girl for real?** Rachel thought.  
_

_"It's just that, well, we haven't really talked much, and I don't think I'm the kind of person you'd like hanging out with," Rachel blurted out, before mentally hitting herself on the head. She was so used to pushing people away she didn't even think about it. But luckily Kory didn't seem to agree with her._

_"That is nonsense!" she actually seemed a little angry, hair seeming to move in an invisible wind. "I am sure we will get along splendidly! And since we are both at the mall of shopping, why do we not enjoy it together?"_

_It took Rachel a moment to wrap her head around her way of talking, but eventually she realized she was being asked if she wanted to go shopping with this girl. Something warm bloomed inside her as she replied, "Um, well, okay Kory, if you really don't mind it being someone like me..."_

_Kory's smile could've lit up the night at Rachel's reply, telling her she was 'perfectly fine and wonderful!', as she grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the book store. What followed was a whirlwind of shops full of clothes and accessories and even a make-over. By the end, Rachel was exhausted, but feeling fulfilled in a way she didn't remember being, ever. She thanked Kory for hanging out with her, exchanged phone numbers and promised to do it again soon, before heading home with her few purchases, as the sun slowly sank into the horizon._

_When she got home, the last rays of sunshine were just disappearing, so she didn't notice the car in the driveway of her home at first. Only when she was walking to the door did she notice it, and her insides froze over. "No..." she whispered, standing there. It couldn't be true. She was dreaming, or something. **He was supposed to be gone for the week!** Feeling unable to breath, she closed her eyes and tried to calm down. Maybe it wasn't what she thought it was? She didn't know what else it might be, but surely there was something._

_Steeling herself, she continued on to the door, only to have it open just as she reached it, that dreaded figure standing silhouetted in the doorway. "Welcome back Rachel," He said, almost managing to sound hurt, "I come home early and my own daughter isn't here to greet me?" He shook His head as he stepped aside to let her in. As she walked past Him, he asked, "So what have you been doing, daughter?"_

_That night, ignoring her new bruises and forcing herself not to cry, she sent a message to Kory saying she couldn't hang out after all, ignored her calls and messages and didn't see her again until school resumed._

\o/

_**Yes,**_ Scath hissed to itself. It was obvious, really, but sometimes you just never knew what got people off. The best thing for Scath, though, was that rarely could any single one of those wishes be accomplished without dipping into the others. Or rather, it was always more fun when it made them do so. _**That girl in Rachel's last memory though...**_ it thought to itself, _**she definitely wasn't human. It looks like magic is certainly still thriving in the current times. I've been left alone and all forgotten - it's enough to make a grown demon cry, **_Scath mocked. The night was wasting, it was time to get to work.

* * *

Rachel clutched at her head and closed her eyes as memories and feelings assaulted her, things she'd not thought of for years, or that she'd tried to forget, one after another. It was almost a physical pain and her head felt ready to burst by the end of it. _What the hell was that?_ she wondered with a groan.

Suddenly she was aware of a presence near her, of a heavy feeling in the air, like just before a storm. A fear she couldn't name rose up in her, but she ignored it, like she did with most of her emotions. She was well practiced at it. Opening her eyes, she looked around for what had disturbed her, but saw nothing. Frowning, she peered into the shadows around the park, trying to pick out a silhouette, or a shape darker than those around it, but nothing stood out. "Must be imaging things again," Rachel sighed.

"**Oh, I don't know about that, girl,**" a voice echoed around her.

Rachel gasped and shot to her feet, chains of the swing rattling in the night as she whirled around, looking for the owner of the voice.

"**Now, what's a pretty little thing like you doing here all by your lonesome?**" that menacing voice asked in mock concern. "**Don't you know there's dangerous things afoot in the night?**"

Finally getting a sense of direction from it, Rachel realized it was coming from above her. Tilting her head back, she could just make out a shape crouched on top of the swing set she'd been sitting on moments before. _How did they get up there without me noticing?_ she wondered in a panic, her usual control gone now. "Who the hell are you and what do you want!?" she yelled at it, backing away. She didn't get far before crimson eyes opened and pinned her to the spot.

"**Excellent questions, Rachel,**" the creature said, it's use of her name shocking her, "**what _do_ I want indeed. To answer the first part of your question...well, let's hold off on that for a moment. More importantly, what is it that **_**you**_** want?**"

What did _she_ want? She wanted to know what the _hell_ was going on right now, that's what she wanted. Suddenly the creature was laughing, though it wasn't an altogether pleasant sound.

"**Ah, you're right, I guess that's asking too much right off the bat. I'll try and explain then, but I'm kind of in a hurry you see,**" it answered her thought, freaking her out more. "**Basically, I'm a demon and I believe we can be...mutually beneficial to each other. So I'm offering my services to you, for a small price,**" it continued with a bow.

Rachel would've laughed in it's face - if she could've seen one - thinking it was all a big joke, if it hadn't been perching right above her. A demon? Demon's weren't real. Magic wasn't real. All of that stuff was just in books. Yet what kind of person had four glowing red eyes and a voice like that? She supposed it could've been some kind of mask and voice manipulator, but that seemed too elaborate just for a prank. _So it's really...a demon?_ Rachel wondered. Curiously, she wasn't as afraid as she thought she should've been.

"**Yes Rachel,**" Scath whispered, listening to her thoughts, "**I really am a demon. But come, what's a demon compared to your father? Why, I'd say he's almost more demonic than myself! Doing those things to his own flesh and blood, tut tut,**" the red eyes moved, the demon's head shaking.

Mention of her Father shocked Rachel's body out of it's frozen state. She'd never told anyone about what He did to her and her mother, but this creature knew. Just like it knew her name without being told. She guessed she should've run, now that she could, but she was strangely drawn to this being. It knew things about her that no one else did, outside her family. It was inside her head, it probably knew her better than them even. She shouldn't, but she wanted to know more about it. She'd lived in fantasy worlds for most of her life, maybe now would be her chance to live one. Certainly couldn't be worse than her current one, could it?

Scath itself was rather surprised. It was behind her empathic defenses, ready to subtly nudge her emotions in a direction that would suit it, yet it barely even had to manipulate them to keep her there, after her initial reaction. _**She might be more suitable than I thought,**_ it thought to itself as it considered her, eyes narrowed.

"So, you're a demon," Rachel said slowly, coming to terms with it surprisingly easy. In a world with her Father, demons _were_ easy to believe in. "How does that...work, exactly?"

Scath jumped down and lounged on a swing as it answered her, "**Hmm? About what I mentioned earlier?**" It knew what Rachel meant, but it wanted her to say it out loud, to make the situation more real in her mind.

"Yes," she whispered, "about...that. Your...services, and being mutually beneficial."

It smiled, a thin slash of white teeth in the darkness. Perhaps she wouldn't take as much convincing as it had thought. "**Ah, well did you know you actually have some magic of your own?**" Scath asked her, knowing she didn't have a clue. Rachel was shocked. _Magic of my own? _

"Surely not," she scoffed, asking, "wouldn't something like that be obvious? I mean...magic!"

Scath laughed at her derisively. This girl thought she'd just wake up one day slinging fireballs or something? "**No, my dear girl, unless it's trained it remains quite the passive trait.**" She seemed a bit crestfallen at that, but honestly. Learning demons existed five minutes ago, that she had magic and then being disappointed that she wasn't going to start spontaneously using it? What a gem.

"**But,**" Scath told her, watching her perk up a little, "**you do have another skill, which is a bit more of a specialty. I think you realize subconsciously, but you're an Empath. It's a bit more...actively passive, I guess, then your talent for magic.**"

Rachel's eyes widened a bit at that. "Empath? Like, feeling people's emotions? That would explain a lot..." she mumbled to herself. She never noticed it anymore, but she thought back to all those times, years ago, when she would get angry for no reason, or start crying or laughing in joy.

"**It's a lot more refined than just 'feeling people's emotions', but at your current level, that's about right,**" Scath confirmed for her. "**As for what this has to do with me...**" it waited for her to come out of her musings at its words. "**My being here is something of a cosmic accident, quite amusing actually, but I won't be able to stay if I don't find myself a tether to this realm by daybreak. And I do quite enjoy your world, so much more **_**virile**_** than my own,**" it could see the wheel's turning in Rachel's head as it continued, "**so what I need from you is...**"

"You want to possess me?" Rachel finished for it, finding herself not entirely shocked. Isn't that what demons did in a lot of stories? This one seemed pleasant enough, for a demon - it hadn't ripped her apart yet - but since it wanted something from her, it was impossible to say for sure. _But then, does it really matter if this isn't it's true face?_ she wondered. Her life wasn't anything to brag about; one parent who abused her, one who was almost like the living dead. No friends - well not really, Kory still talked to her and she'd been chatting more with her and her group of friends, but she didn't really feel like she fit in there, as much as they tried.

Scath could feel her considering, weighing her options. _**Time to sweeten the deal,**_ it thought. "**You're right, of course. I'd like to enjoy my time here to the fullest, and to do that I need to rent a little bit of that head space of yours,**" it spoke up.

"Rent?" Rachel asked, intrigued. What was it going to offer? She thought she knew though.

"**Indeed, I did say 'mutually beneficial' earlier, did I not? For just a place to stay, I would be willing to help you out with your family woes. I know all about them, you see, and your life. You want to fight back, to be strong, to take control. But mostly, you just want to be free, yes?**" it whispered that last part to her, the words slipping into her mind and taking root. Hope really was a wonderfully useful tool.

She remembered her thoughts and memories from earlier. She realized, now, that it was probably this demon rooting around, but that didn't make any of it any less true, did it. She remembered the feelings from a couple of years ago when she'd thought her Father had left for a week. If she could experience that again, and not just for a couple of days, but forever...? Would whatever it cost be worth it? _Yes_. Still, Rachel figured if she was going to agree to be possessed, she might as well get what she could out of it, so she asked, "Will you...teach me how to use magic too?"

The demon grinned wider and this time she noticed the red glow behind it's teeth as it answered, "**Oh, I'm sure something can be arranged in that field.**" It stood up and slowly walked towards Rachel.

She trembled but stood her ground, resolved now. "So how does this work? Will it hurt? Will I feel anything while you're...in there?" she asked it.

"**It's simple,**" Scath explained, "**we exchange the gift of names, freely given, then you invite me in. And don't worry, I can be **_**very**_** unobtrusive, you'll hardly even notice me,**" it reassured her soothingly.

Only now was Rachel starting to have second thoughts; how long was it going to possess her? How was it going to help her, besides teaching her magic? What did it want in this world? But being honest with herself, she couldn't take much more of her current life. So before she could back out, she pushed those questions away and and nodded to the solidifying shadows in front of her.

"**My name is Scath,**" it said, the name burning and twisting in the air as it left the demon's mouth. Rachel felt her skin tingle as it wrapped around her, replying, "My name is Rachel Roth, and I invite you, Scath."

As soon as the words left her mouth, the demon's name sank into her skin, burning like fire, freezing like ice and she tried to scream. Dimly, she realized it hadn't said there wouldn't be any pain. _Stupid girl,_ Rachel thought to herself agonizingly. Shadows crept into her mind, and the more that came, the more her pain eased. Eventually she felt like she was swimming in a void, unable to see or feel anything, but at least that meant that indescribable agony was gone.

Outside, Rachel's eyes opened, but they weren't her usual purple. Instead, her irises were a deep, blood red. A cruel smile twisted her face and she bowed to empty air as she said, "Thank you for the invitation, my dear," in a voice that was Rachel's, but at the same time wasn't. "You won't regret it, I'm sure," Scath, using Rachel's voice, laughed loudly into the night.

* * *

**A/N: So another chapter. I have mixed feelings about it, to be honest. Let me know what you all think and if you see anything that needs improvement. Next time will see out two girls waking up to their new lives, one with a bump to the head and the other with dreams of blood.  
**


	3. Chapter 2 - Beginnings

**A/N: Oh man, I feel so bad, it feels like forever since I've updated! Honestly, I've been sitting on half of this chapter for probably a week. Every time I tried to sit down and finish it, I just couldn't get into it. But it's done now! And I think it turned out alright.  
**

**So, a huge thanks to all the reviewers out there, I'm so glad people are enjoying this, though I'm also worried I may not live up to your expectations, haha. I'm also really glad people are thrown for a bit of a loop, I personally love it when something unexpected happens in something I'm reading, if it's well done.  
**

**Still something of a build up here and introducing a few of the other characters and some of their relations to each other, but hopefully It's enough of a fix for now, I'll probably be working on some other stuff next, though I have a chapter idea or two fairly planned out for this. What I really need to do, for all my stories, is sit down sometime and actually plot out specific events and stuff. I'm seriously just writing everything from...I was going to say instinct, haha.**

* * *

**Chapter 2 - Beginnings  
**

Jennifer woke to a splitting headache. _What the fuck, was I...drinking last night?_ she questioned herself. But this felt worse than the few hangovers she'd had before; just because she couldn't legally drink, didn't mean she didn't. It was too hard, she couldn't think much past the the pain in her skull. Groaning, she rolled onto her side - and came face-to-face with Gizmo. Or face to back, rather. She let out a scream of surprise, which caused him to jump and nearly fall out of his raised chair.

"What the _fuck_ Mikr- Giz!? Why are you in my room!?" she yelled frantically, almost using his real name in her panic. Memories of the tantrum from last time made her correct herself, no matter how pissed or surprised she might be. Yelling and screaming was a bad idea though, since it made white sheets of pain travel across her eyes. Clutching her head, she barely heard Gizmo's reply.

"What, ya'd rather wake up to a big, stinkin' mammoth!?" he asked back loudly. "An' besides, what the crud do YA MEAN YOUR STINKIN' ROOM!? AND YOU ALMOST _**BLOODY**_ SAID IT, DIDN'T YOU!" his voice getting louder by every word, he was practically screaming his head off by the end. Noticing Jennifer's pain, he trailed off into mutterings about 'crud-munchers' and 'scuzz-wads', too low for Jennifer to hear in her current state.

Sighing, Gizmo got up and headed over to the kitchen to get some pain killers and a glass of water for her. Bringing them back the short distance, he placed them on a table in front of Jennifer and told her, "Maybe you should double check your crud-guzzling surroundings before you go accusing people of breaking into your ruddy bedroom." Giving her time to adjust, he went back to his computers.

Leaning into a half-sitting position, not even reading the label on the pain killers, Jennifer grabbed a handful and threw them in her mouth, chugging them down with the water. With that task done, she finally moved her head around and gave some attention to her surroundings; One, she was on a couch, not her bed. Two, she was in a living/kitchen area, not her bedroom in her converted warehouse. And three, the entire length of the longest wall was covered in computer monitors and equipment, a still peeved Gizmo sitting there doing a hundred things that made Jennifer's already spinning head spin more. Fact: she was most certainly not in her bedroom. Fact: she was, in actuality, in Gizmo's apartment. Question: if she hadn't been drinking, why did her head hurt so much and why was she here?

"Hey, umm...sorry about freaking out, just before. I mean, it was just so unexpected, I was surprised...I should have noticed, I mean, I don't even own a computer! Haha..." she tried to explain herself softly, awkwardly laughing it off. Whatever those pain killers were, they seemed to be working alright, quickly too. Still hurt like a bitch, but it didn't matter if you were slowly rising above it on a cloud. Smiling stupidly at the back of Gizmo's head, she waited for a reply.

Silence.

Silence.

Then finally a soft grumbling, "...It's fine," followed by a shouted, "NOW STOP CRUDDING SMILING LIKE THAT, IT'S FRICKIN' CREEPY!"

"Eyes in the back of your head!?" Jennifer shockingly asked, only to get an instant shut down, "It's the reflection in the screen, stupid!" Laughing, she lay back down on the couch she'd woken up on and closed her eyes.

"So hey, hey," Jennifer asked Gizmo, not opening her eyes, "how come I'm here with such a killer headache? What happened Giz?"

Gizmo looked back at her in surprise. _She doesn't frackin' remember?_ he thought to himself. Maybe that bump on her head was worse than it had looked. "I was hopin' you could frazzin' tell me! One bloody minute I'm sittin' here minding my own snotting business, shit-posting on some forum, then the next there's these scuzz-buckets in the building screaming their heads off and crying so loud I can hear 'em through the walls!" Gizmo was getting into his story now, hands gesticulating wildly as he explained what went down last night.

"The power started fickin' fluctuating too, so then I can't go risking my beauties, can I, and I have to turn everything off! A frazzin' disaster I tell you," he sighed with remembered despair, "so anyway, what the hell can I do with the power on the fritz and neighbors screaming about shadows and nightmares? Can't use my computers, can't sleep with the noise, so I figure 'Stuff it! I'll go outside and have a bloody smoke', and don't go giving me That Look," Gizmo scowled at the now glaring Jennifer, "you know I hardly ever do it! ANYWAY! So all that scuzzing shit's going down, I head down the street a ways to grab a packet of ciggies, stop to have one on the way back when I hear this frazzing moanin' and groanin' going on down some side alley. 'Shit,' I think to myself, 'is there really some snot-brain going at it down there?', but it doesn't sound right, you know, so I drop my half finished smoke, head down there...and find **you** lying in the middle of the place, totally out of it!"

As Gizmo's story neared the end, it started coming back to Jennifer in fits and starts, flashes of memory appearing before her minds eye. When he reached the end, it all came back to her fully, her plan and then the ritual to summon something otherworldly. The supposed failure, then the appearance of the..._**demon!**_ "SHIT!" she yelled, frantically trying to sit up, but didn't make it far before she clutched her head and fell back down again. "Fuckfuckfuck," Jennifer muttered to herself as she curled into a ball, Gizmo looking on, equal parts concerned and confused.

"So I'm guessing you remember what frazzing happened then," he guessed, waiting expectantly for an answer. After finding her knocked out in an alley after midnight and getting Baran to bring her back, he felt he had a right to know what she'd gotten into. Besides, though she was pretty reserved a lot of the time, Baran and himself considered her a friend, someone they could trust and rely on in this shitty world.

"What time is it!?" Jennifer asked, still in a panic, ignoring Gizmo's expectant look. She could see sunlight coming in through the windows, so it was a long while after her..._encounter_ last night. _Why am I still alive!? No, wait..._ calming down a little, she remembered the demon speaking into her mind before everything went black; '_**As thanks for your hard efforts, my gift to you is your life**_'. There was more, too, something about training her power and a name? It hurt too much to remember, like fire igniting along her synapses. Gizmo and the question she'd asked completely out of her mind, she groaned and tried to escape into oblivion again.

"What the toe-jamming hell has gotten into you!?" Gizmo asked, noticing how weird Jennifer was acting. "Calm down for a scruffing second and explain, will you!? And it's like, ten or eleven in the morning, I dunno. Lucky it's not a school day for you," he finished in a murmur.

Ten or eleven in the morning, so almost twelve hours since she'd been left alive? _Crap, what the hell did you get yourself into Jennifer!_ she yelled to herself silently, tears leaking out of her eyes. _You fucked up again girl! Why do you even try?!_ Silently, she continued berating herself until Gizmo interrupted her thoughts.

"Ah damn it, Jen, I didn't mean to make you cry," he muttered, awkward, "me and Baran, we're just concerned, you know?" Not a single curse in his sentence, he was trying hard.

"You guys shouldn't, you know..." Jennifer sniffed, "care about me, that is. You'll just get hurt like everyone else." Would the demon she summoned go after them? They were the only people she was really close to at the moment. Weren't demons all about torturing people and stuff? Mentally, emotionally, physically? The truth was, Jennifer had no idea what it was after, what it's goals would be, and that was probably worse. She liked Gizmo and Baran, she didn't want anything to happen to them. _Should I try and explain what happened...?_ Jennifer didn't know. Would they even believe her?

"Hey, hey, what the scrazzing hell are you talking about!?" Gizmo almost yelled. "We're your friends you know, of course we care! What happened the other night, damn it?"

His concern warmed her, but Jennifer couldn't deal with this right now. Her head still hurt, she was worried about last night and what might happen to her friends in the future because of her screw-up. She had to think, to try and figure this out. Standing up, she staggered her way over to the door, Gizmo protesting the entire time. Jennifer ignored him until she got to the door, then when she opened it, she half turned her head and interrupted him mid protest, "I'll come back later, just...you and Baran be careful, alright? Watch yourselves."

Without waiting for an answer, she walked out of Gizmo's apartment and left the building. Gizmo, standing in his doorway looking after her, muttering to himself "What the hell did that girl get herself into...", couldn't help but feel a shiver down his spine. Jennifer, oblivious, made her way home, intent on protecting the people closest to her, for once in her life. If she couldn't find out what she needed herself, she'd find someone who could help.

* * *

_The world was bathed in a sea of crimson, steel and concrete buildings soaring into the sky, moon hanging there like a giant eye, tinted red in her vision. She was in the centre of the city, looking up at the sky, streamers of colour floating through the night air, forming beautiful patterns and interrupting the red with technicolour images. Her field of view slowly lowered and panned to the left and right, like she was looking around, but not in control, a mute passenger along for the ride._

_No one seemed to be in the streets, it was just her, some cars, the buildings and the dim illumination from street lights, leaving circles of light on the ground like pools of blood. Hands moved up in front of her, reaching just behind her and pulling a hood up over their head, before lowering again. Whoever she was with started moving after that, head down and hands in pockets, eyes shifting left and right as they seemed to move randomly around the centre of the city. Looking for something maybe? Though she couldn't control the body, she could choose what she was focusing on, so she wasn't paying too much to her surroundings, instead being entranced by the different coloured lines of light and knots of colour in the buildings, ground and air, everywhere around her. Which is why she noticed that the body she was riding in seemed to be following one pattern in particular. _

_It was hard to notice amongst the myriads of purples, blues, greens and browns surrounding her, but she would occasionally catch glimpses of a small, twisted tangle of sickly yellow and dark red, like the colour of a bruise and dried blood. The body followed it down streets large and small, between buildings and over fences, pattern appearing more regularly until it was more a trail in the air then the occasional sign post. Finally, the body followed it into a dead end between houses. It was quite an expensive area, so the houses were large and multi-storied, towering over her, closing the area in and making it a separate world. Step by slow step, the body she was in made it's way further into the into the separate reality behind houses, the physical world getting darker around her while the unnatural colours grew brighter. She heard a small sound below her at the next step and her vision tilted down, whoever she was riding with obviously as curious as she. It was a small pool of something that they'd stepped in, something dark with a faint metallic scent coming off of it. It glowed a deep, vivid crimson in her new vision, and she knew what it was - blood. She'd smelled that smell countless times before, on her own body, tasted it enough to know it intimately. She was glad she was just a disembodied passenger right now. There was more blood on the ground here than she'd ever seen in one place, an irregular circle at least three hand-spans in diameter. She wondered, had those __**actually**__ been pools of blood she'd seen earlier in the night, under those lights? Is this what whoever she was with was searching for, the person whose blood this belonged to?_

_The body she had no control over crouched down, staring intently at the blood on the ground, absorbing every detail of it. Slowly a hand reached out, finger extended and gently it was pressed into the pool of liquid life before her, before being retracted - and brought to their mouth. Had she a stomach of her own right now, she would have been nauseous. As it was, she could do nothing as she felt the tongue swirl around the single digit covered in blood, the metallic taste thick and cloying - yet somehow it was the sweetest thing she'd ever tasted. The vision she was sharing...tightened, was the only way she could describe it. Everything came into painfully sharp focus, and it suddenly seemed like layers of the world peeled back and she could see everything, from the clouds that particular wind would bring the next day, to the minuscule cracks in the cement she was standing on that would one day be the reason one of these houses collapsed, seeing all the way down to the very building blocks of life itself. _

_Her vision moved suddenly and she was staring deep into the dead-end they was just barely inside of, and there she finally noticed something, a hunched figure, all but collapsed against the large brick wall of an estate that blocked the way forward. She couldn't make out much detail in the darkness they were cowering in, but she could make out the glint of their eyes as they looked towards where the body she was in crouched, over what was probably their own blood. So this **was** what it had been searching the city for? It seemed likely. She felt a sharp smile take over the mouth and saw the figure at the other end shudder, then moan in pain as whatever wound they had was aggravated. In a flash, too quick for even thought, this body she was riding was standing before the person at the other end. How had they moved that fast? Before that thought could fully materialise, just as the man - for she now saw that it was an older man, with a lined face and a dark beard going to grey and matted with blood, clutching a wound in his side - was widening his eyes and tensing to try and move, a hand, the same one from just moments earlier, was flying towards his chest, fingers rigid. Just like before, the movement was inhumanly quick and the man stood no chance. Everything went into slow motion as she felt the tips of the fingers slam into the man's chest, just above his heart...and not slow down. The nails parted his skin easily and the fingers followed smoothly, widening the initial wounds and tearing apart skin and muscle as they continued their inexorable journey inside him. She felt ribs being ruthlessly shattered or pushed aside as the rest of the hand followed, sprays of blood, shards of bone and pieces of muscle flying out in beautiful arcs as the hand ploughed deep inside this stranger and finally curled around his still beating heart._

_The smile this body wore never altered a fraction during all of this, as time snapped back to its proper momentum. She found herself staring directly into the unknown man's eyes, a deep blue, widened and glazed in pain, coughing blood but unable to make another sound. She felt the arm and hand not inside him curl around his body, supporting him in a macabre imitation of an intimate embrace. The heart that had been racing a hundred miles an hour under the now gently curled fingers was slowing it's pace as this man, who's name she didn't even know, had his life taken from him. She felt the smile this body was wearing widen and the lips part as it gazed deeply into the eyes that were swiftly growing cloudy as the man gasped his final breaths. Unable to look away, those dying eyes larger than life in her vision, they reflected the world around her and she finally saw the face of the person she was inside - it was herself, face covered in blood and gore, eyes wide in rapture, with irises burning a fiery red and her mouth stretched into a large, sadistic smile. The man's life finally ended and she was left gazing into her own burning eyes._

Rachel woke from the dream screaming. She was completely blind with terror for several minutes, unable to stop herself. When she finally came to her senses, her first thought was that she was glad she'd been screaming into her pillow and it had muffled the noise. _Who knows what Father would have done otherwise,_ she thought. Her second was to wonder how she'd came to be in her room. The last moments she remembered, she'd been lost in thought in 'her' park. Rachel had no recollection of leaving there and making her way home, but clearly she must have. Maybe she'd been more tired than she thought? She didn't hurt either, so her Father mustn't have caught her coming back. Her thoughts went back to her dream and she shuddered. It was already slipping away from her, as dreams did. Only fragments remained and even they were disappearing, but they were enough to make Rachel glad she didn't remember more. She realised she was covered in sweat, the smell of fear wafting around her. _Shower, then I can deal with the world,_ Rachel thought firmly.

She looked around her room, taking in the familiar sights - her bookshelf along one wall, closet along another, vanity stand next to her bed, mirror in a frame of ravens in flight, various bric-a-brac lying on shelves around the room, small things that had caught her interest over the years - mind calming at the normality of it. She was surprised to see it was early afternoon and that no one had awakened her. It was still the weekend, or her alarm would have been set, but usually if she lazed about all day someone would come and drag her out. _Well, I'll find out soon,_ she shrugged to herself and then grabbed a set of casual clothes from her closet and headed to the bathroom.

She walked down the hall on the second floor, past her parents room, door open and room unoccupied. She continued past it and then the stairs and made her way to the two doors at the far end, one a linen closet and the other her goal. Rachel opened the door and stepped inside, closing and locking it behind herself. The house seemed quiet, but she was in intensely private person and there was no sense taking chances. She would have liked a long bath, but it was already pretty late in the day, so she turned the shower on to heat up and slowly stripped off the dark blue pyjamas she'd woken up in and didn't remember putting on. Steam was coming out of the shower by the time she was done and she stepped in, the water scalding hot. Rachel didn't mind, she always took her showers hot, especially if her Father was in one of his moods. After a day or so, they helped bruises fade. Shaking off such thoughts, she waited for the initial discomfit to pass and slowly her muscles started to relax as the heat soaked into them. Rachel sighed and started to clean the sweat from her body.

Her mind wandered over last night and the dream she'd had, though now all that remained of it were vague feelings of distress, confusion, wonder, terror and underlying it all...power. _What the hell kind of dreams am I starting to have?_ she wondered to herself as she unconsciously scrubbed herself harder. She still hadn't come up with anything about how she'd gotten herself home either, or into her bed, seemingly undetected. She stopped her movements and leaned her head against the glass side of the shower, closing her eyes and just breathing steadily. Rachel decided it didn't matter. Maybe she _had_ just been tired and blessed with some rare good luck when she'd gotten home. She opened her eyes and her throat closed as a scream tried to work it's way out. The water running down the sides of the shower had turned the crimson of fresh blood and was flowing slowly past her reflection, a reflection staring back at her with red eyes and a sadistic smile, face covered in the freely flowing blood. Just as quickly as it appeared it was gone again and Rachel was left in a perfectly normal shower, breathing like she'd run a marathon. She slammed the water off and jumped out, completely unnerved by whatever had just happened.

When she'd calmed down enough to berate herself for her lapse in rationality, she grabbed her towel from the rack and dried herself off, before getting dressed and leaving the room. Still, she was in more of a hurry than usual and she couldn't bring herself to look in the mirror at all.

The house still seemed too quiet. _Is anyone even home? _Rachel wondered to herself. She hoped not, and decided to explore and see if anyone was home. She'd find out one way or another, so might as well make it on her terms. She was soon to be disappointed though, as she could hear faint noises coming from the kitchen as she walked down the stairs and entered the living room to her left. Sighing, she made her way through the living room to the connecting entrance to the kitchen. _At least it's probably just mother,_ she thought. Entering the kitchen proper, she discovered that she'd been right, it was just her mother, preparing dinner by the looks of things. She must have made a noise as she entered, for Arella turned around with a smile and said, "Awake at last Rachel? I thought you'd sleep all day!".

Looked like she was in a rare, exuberant mood today. Rachel wondered if something good had happened, but she doubted it. Maybe she was just living in the past again? She did that sometimes.

"Umm, yeah, I guess yesterday must have tired me out more than I thought, or something," Rachel replied quietly to her mother. She didn't volunteer that she'd been out until the early hours of morning. If she didn't know, it was better to keep quiet about her late night excursion.

"Oh, did something happen?" her mother asked in concern. Rachel was shocked, but didn't let it show on her face. She realised her mother probably wasn't talking about...that. She seemed to take a 'see no evil' approach to her Father these days, hiding behind walls in her mind. Well, in a sense, Rachel did the same, so she couldn't cast stones.

"No, nothing in particular really," she replied, both to the asked and unasked question. It had been a surprisingly quiet week on that regard. She would even go so far as to say that her Father had been in a good mood, for the most part. _Maybe that's why **she's** in such a good mood,_ Rachel wondered, as her mother beamed at her and turned back to her cooking preparations, humming under her breath. She wandered over and started helping her mother by washing and peeling some vegetables.

Arella glanced sideways at her daughter with a smile and said, "I was thinking of working on the garden today, if you wanted to help with that as well?". Rachel was unable to hide her shock at _that_ news. Her mother hadn't touched those gardens in...she couldn't even remember how long.

"No need to look so surprised dear," Arella said to Rachel, "of course I'd appreciate your help! Besides, it's been so long since we did anything together."

Of course, her mother completely misinterpreted her expression. That last sentence didn't help either. Of course they never did anything together these days, her mother was basically a ghost. Even looking at her now, in her good mood, she was still thin and pale, almost gaunt. It just made her current mood all the harder to bear.

"Where's Father?" Rachel asked, ignoring the garden comments for now. Not home, she'd guess. A shadow passed over Arella's expression at her question, but it was just for a moment and then she answered her daughter.

"He got a call very early this morning, something work related. He said it was urgent and had to leave right away," Arella said in a quiet voice, but still smiling. Like it could hold the world at bay if she did it enough.

There was a murmur at the back of her mind at the news, but she didn't notice it. _Maybe that's how I got back inside without Him noticing?_ Rachel wondered. _He might have already gone by the time I got back._ She frowned, wondering what had come up at such a time, and on a weekend too. As far as she knew, her Father worked at a rather unimportant branch of a large company, some kind of team leader somewhere down the chain. She'd never asked, nor wanted to know, specifics. She just knew that He worked long hours sometimes and was occasionally sent to other branches and out of the city for training or meetings of some kind. Blessed times of peace, usually.

"Did He say when He would be back?" Rachel asked her mother in a dead-pan voice.

"No, but he said he might not be back tonight and to just cook whatever and leave some in the fridge," she told her daughter. In the silence of their minds, both of them hoped that was true.

* * *

In a dark room somewhere in the city, two men sat across from each other at a table, a single low illumination bulb lighting a small circle around them. One of the men, hair and beard prematurely white, with a single eye calmly absorbing every detail around him and the other covered by an eye patch, folded his hands in front of him and observed the man across from him.

That man was tall, broad shouldered and heavily built. He wasn't young, nor entirely in his prime, but his health and body were well maintained and the first man knew that he was a deadly fighter. He was also a father and husband. He had dark brown hair still, though it was greying at the temples, he was also clean shaven and had frown lines etched into his face. In fact, he was scowling right now, as he wiped his bloody hands on a cloth and tossed it on the table.

"So," the one-eyed man started, "what did you think? A message?"

"I'm not sure," the other man said sourly, spots of blood still on his hands. "It could be. It was certainly brutal enough."

"Hmm, if it isn't, then it is certainly one very large coincidence. We start a hostile takeover, complete it in a matter of days, and then one of ours turns up dead in such a fashion?" the one-eyed man questions. "And in such an area too. Our man seems to have fled quite a distance from whoever did that to him. Thankfully his connection to us wasn't much of a loose end, whether this was deliberate or not. Easily removed."

"Indeed, we can be thankful he was far outside the circle," the scowling one said. "Either whoever did it doesn't know much about us, or they're working their way up from the bottom. I got nothing out of his handler. Well, besides this," he said, pointing to the cloth from earlier.

"Or, it was pure coincidence. Simply an ordinary killing. Though, perhaps 'ordinary' doesn't really fit in this case. "

"Or it was coincidence," he agreed verbally, but his tone said he didn't really believe it, just like the one-eyed man.

"Well, then," the one-eyed man said, calm through this entire discussion. "Well. We have one lowly trafficker, heart seemingly ripped from his chest and a hole in his side, a terrified rictus frozen on his face, found behind some houses in a rather high-profile area. No clues, no signs, a veritable mystery. You arrived before anyone found him and reported the body, nothing of interest?"

The other man spat in disgust before answering. "Yeah, just like you said. Absolutely nothing else there, just his body and some trails of blood, minus a heart. If they left anything to say who did it or why, I couldn't see it."

"I wonder if there is, perhaps, a new player in town," the one-eyed man said with a sigh. "Truly, how troublesome, after all our hard efforts over the years. Well, one must expect these kinds of things, in this business. I'm sure some of our predecessors considered us in the same light."

The other man gave a snort and a grim smile stretched his mouth as he said, "They didn't think it for long."

"Indeed not," was the reply he got, with a low chuckle. "Either way, we have a potential encroachment on our territory, or else a rather extreme killer roaming the streets. Thoughts, my friend?"

The other man considered for a few moments, scowl from earlier turning into a thoughtful frown as he rubbed his chin. "Well, Mr. Wilson. Since we have no leads, we can't really go after whoever it is. So, assuming this is no coincidence, all we can really do is wait for their next move, or for the authorities to, miracle of miracles, find a killer. I'd suggest we inform our most important people of the danger, in one form or another, but leave those easily cut off out of the loop. Being watched, of course."

"Ah," there was a glint in the man's single eye as his smile widened, "leave them out as bait and see what we catch, my own thinking precisely. As for it being a killer and being caught, I received some information that a rather secretive person is entering the town shortly. I'm sure they'll take care of our problem for us...or perhaps our problem will take care of them? So many opportunities all of a sudden. Perhaps this wasn't such a bad thing to happen after all, Mr. Roth. But please, you know there is no need for such formality between the two of us! In private, at any rate."

As the other man, Rachel's father, laughed heartily, Slade Wilson asked him with a smile, "By the way, how is your daughter doing these days?"

* * *

**A/N: Oh, to that one reviewer who mentioned it was nice to see other characters, I'll pretty much be bringing all of the main ones into this, though mostly they won't be vanilla human. With the exception of Robin, who will also come into it in the next chapter or two.  
**

**Anyway, reading through this as I edited, I found myself _really_ enjoying the Jinx/Gizmo part, it made me smile. Doing his cursing and swearing was a little tricky though, let me know what you all think. And about the rest of course too. I also listen to a very strange mixture of music when I'm writing...  
**

**Missing hearts and nefarious meetings between evil-doers, whatever is happening!**


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